If money were no object

One of the reasons I love dentistry is all the gadgets and gizmos we get to use. My parents graduated in the 70s – a time where gloves were not compulsory and plaster was the main impression material. Hard to imagine for anyone who recently graduated in the last few decades! Knowing this fact has given me a deeper appreciation for all the equipment we have at our disposal and I quite literally never take anything for granted. That even includes the gloves!

Despite all my dental luxuries there are things that are just completely out of my reach at the moment. But if money were no option what would I go out and buy? In all honesty I already have a fantastic set up including Belmont Cleo II chair, Cerec bluecam, Planmeca ProFace CBCT, Simplant, Wave one, H Zepf surgical kit, Astra tech implant system, W&H handpieces and motor to match.

Ive been lucky to start my career amidst the ‘digital revolution’ and I am a massive advocate. Its getting so incredibly advanced now with the overall enhancement of treatment outcome, and of course patient journey, and I cant help but hold my breath in anticipation of what the near future will bring.

In answer to the question If money was of no object what would I buy? Having considered it carefully I think I would buy the most seamless and complete A to Z for digital treatment planning for my implant cases. Sirona have a fantastic line of compatible equipment that I have seen in full flow and it’s very impressive.

I know this may not seem like the most lavish of expenditures if money were no object – but this set up would make a big difference to my workflow. The Teneo itself is the pinnacle of the sirona line of chairs and even include an implant motor function to reduce clutter during surgeries. The Galileos would allow superior planning helping me to plan the exact position of whichever implant I decide to use. I could mill a bespoke surgical guide within the hour to allow extreme accuracy during surgery. Knowing my implant angulation prior to surgery would allow the prefabrication of a screw-retained temporary that would ultimately help create an ideal emergence profile. Partnering the omnicam scan and galileos CBCT image would produce even more accurate results. After healing, the Cerec could be used to create a definitive restoration in under an hour using a scan body – all at the patience convenience. Not only does this work flow appeal massively time wise, but ultimately would make my day to day surgeries seamlessly more predictable, giving me more of a sense of control.

What I’m truly hoping for, that I am sure will become a reality in my lifetime, is all of the above merged into one overall ‘set up’. It would be nice to see the CEREC acquisition unit integrated into the chair itself and even smaller, quieter mills. I’d be very surprised if this wasn’t already on the horizon.

I could go on about a bigger building, car park, bigger staff room etc but like I said – I love digital dentistry and I do feel as though it’s the future.

I suppose one massive goal I have would be an on site lab – the ultimate luxury. This would require significant investment in not only equipment, but would demand more floor space and of course technicians. One can but dream for now I guess?

One last thing….If there did happen to be any money left after I’d bought my Sirona set up, then I’d head straight to Aston Martin.